Rep. Takano Introduces Promoting Authenticity with Influencer Disclaimer (PAID) Act to Demand Disclosure of Campaign Paid Content from Influencers

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Representative Mark Takano (CA-39) introduced the Promoting Authenticity with Influencer Disclaimer (PAID) Act. The PAID Act would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act to require any person who is paid by a political committee or candidate to include a disclaimer that they were paid to post content.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has attempted to bring transparency to the creator economy since 2013. Due to the lack of laws surrounding creators coordinating with campaigns, they have been unable to demand disclosures on paid candidate content. The PAID Act will create a clear statutory disclaimer requirement for the FEC to finally enforce.

Reporting shows campaigns and PACs paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for influencer originated content in recent years. This type of paid advertising has no guardrails or transparency, and campaigns will continue to double down on this influencer nondisclosure loophole in order to sway elections.

"Our social media feeds must be fixed," said Congressman Takano. "Users deserve to know if a creator has been compensated by a campaign to post for them. Current campaign disclosure laws have not kept up with this new creator economy, and voters deserve to know who is financing their feeds before heading to the polling booths. We cannot allow the candidates who finance the most checks to dominate public discourse and drown out competing voices."

Full text of the PAID Act can be found here.

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